Beach violence erupts in Bondi stabbings

SYDNEY - The stabbing of six teenagers at Bondi Beach has raised the spectre of further beachside violence and prompted claims police are not adequately resourced to deal with the threat.

Two men were arrested and questioned about two separate attacks, seven minutes apart, on five males and a female in Bondi.

An 18-year-old Sydney man charged in relation to the fights on Saturday was yesterday refused bail by a Sydney court.

Ahmad Elchami from Chester Hill in Sydney's south west is charged with one count of affray in relation to the altercations.

The six teenagers, aged 16 to 19 years, were injured when three men, described as being of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean appearance and armed with small knives, set upon the group.

Superintendent Mark Walton said the attacks were "vicious and unprovoked". A police fact sheet tendered to the court said that witnesses told police a man of Middle Eastern appearance got out of a white van on Park Drive in Bondi and stabbed a 17-year-old male in the neck with a flick knife.

The offender and another man left the scene in the van but returned 10 minutes later with a group of men and a brawl broke out.

Another five males aged between 15 and 18 were stabbed during the altercation and taken to hospital.

Three of the injured youths have been released and three remain in hospital in a serious but stable condition.

NSW Premier Morris Iemma said he was disgusted by the Bondi attacks and the Government was strengthening the ability of police to crack down on violence.

"We are finalising our plans for more police - more police on the beat - and we are finalising our plans for extra police powers with particular reference to gangs," he told reporters in Sydney.

Glenn Peat, father of Ryan Peat who was wounded in the first attack, said his son barely got to say a word before his attacker punched him.

"He [Ryan] said they are not my girlfriends, and this guy has just punched him in the face, jumped in his car and grabbed a knife," Peat told Macquarie Radio.

Ryan Peat suffered a superficial neck wound.

Walton said 12 detectives, forming strike force Lawn, have been assigned to the case, which will be investigated by the Eastern Suburbs Local Area Command.

The attack was the first serious violent incident on Sydney's beaches since the racially motivated Cronulla riot and revenge attacks.

Walton said the police strike force investigating the riot and its revenge attacks will not be involved with strike force Lawn's investigation. Strike force Enoggera is investigating the December 11 Cronulla riot and the two days of violence that followed.

The NSW Opposition seized on the latest attack as proof the Government had starved police of the resources needed to tackle violent crime, after earlier claims the Government had instructed police to go "soft" on Middle Eastern gangs. Opposition leader Peter Debnam said he was concerned the attack took place at a time when there was an increased police presence on Sydney's beaches.

"We're not having a go at the frontline police but it's the responsibility of the Government to make sure they're properly resourced."

- AAP